Los Angeles Architectural History

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Disclaimer: This piece is intended as satire. I believe that all human beings have value. I also believe that our government in Washington is very ineffective and their recent actions in regard to the debt ceiling are petty, childish and irresponsible at best. If you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, Tea Party or any form of the current government in Washington all I have to say to most of you is shame on the lot of you.

My intention here is to voice my level of concern in regard to the recent actions of our elected officials. If I offend anybody in this piece in regard to harvesting them for body parts I apologize. That is not my intention as those who know me can attest. I do not apologize for my expression that I feel our government is ineffective, harmful, not to be trusted.

If anybody has their own thoughts on how to help our government feel free to leave your idea as a comment. Please feel free to pass this link along to others.

I have suggested a few of my own ideas and some of these are in the post referenced from the above link.

At one point, The Speaker of The House even referenced my blog piece in his own blog. Perhaps one man in the street was being listened to? Seems that was not the case.

Today 7/28/11, there was a news item: The final kill shot to the trashed housing market? Mortgage tax break eyed to help cut debt - http://t.co/PPVUA4O

I thought, it looks as the folks in Washington are grasping at anything as long as does not raise taxes on record setting profit level corporations or those in the highest tax bracket. The last part of the American Dream being taken away by those in Washington. Shame on all of you no matter what your political party. This country has never been closer to collapse in the entire history of America. America has also never been closer to revolution in her history.

I realized why some of my ideas were being ignored after looking at their latest thought to attack the problem of the economy from the above story. It was obvious!

My ideas lacked a basic foundation in key elements such as taking away something that people had already paid for such as Social Security or put more Americans in harms way at extreme cost to the American people even though we have the technology to wage war remotely.

My ideas did not have factors that made no sense. I proposed a higher tax rate on corporations which are posting higher than ever profits as they lay off more workers.

Our government seems to miss the math that less workers mean less money paid into the tax base and fewer jobs equal fewer workers taking home a paycheck.

For my ideas to work I need to follow a few guidelines, very important guidelines.

1. Lack of thought.

2. Lack of responsibility.

3. Lack of common sense.

4. Need to be insensitive.

5. Need to be unfair.

6. Need to single out the wealthy from what is left of the middle class or blue collar work force.

7. A requirement to make people upset at even the basic concept of the idea.

8. A need to single out a group of people and target them.

9. A requirement to be able to state that some issue was solved and be able to come up with statistics as proof.

10. A simple and basic stupid idea where even the concept of the idea has no redeeming social value.

In short, the idea or concept needed to be stupid enough, offensive enough and thoughtless enough that no matter what the education level, background, position in the community or respect that an individual may have held in the past the basic proposal or thought of the idea alone carried enough negative value that they would be thought of as a fool. This was the only way I would be able to match the tone level with our current government and communicate with them on their current level.

After moments of thought I had a plan that would raise revenue, mostly from the wealthy AND solve a social issue.

There have been news stories about the laws in Arizona concerning illegal aliens. My plan addresses that issue.

Tax the wealthy? My plan addresses that issue. The most wealthy can participate in the program and those with less wealth will automatically be excluded from the program. Before you say that is illegal let me state that I am aware of no law that says that a person in a low income bracket cannot legally purchase a Bentley Turbo R or Ferrari.

Generate revenue? You bet.

Here is the plan in all it's simplicity.

First we can create more jobs by adding numbers to our internal home defense forces. They are not paid a salary. They are commission based and paid on actual head count of people collected. To use an old phrase from the sixties and my day in the military; body count.

Second, we round up all illegal or undocumented aliens using our new defense force.

Before anybody goes of the deep end and panics due to worry about housing, feeding and caring for those rounded up let me put your mind at rest. All detainees will be taken to the geographically closest hospital where they will be given 24 hours to prove they are a U.S. Citizen. If proof cannot be shown there is no deportation or added expense. They are terminated within the 24 hour period and all their organs are collected.

Third, the collected organs are put on eBay for sale. The sale mechanism already exists! No need for additional government expense or the creation of yet another agency of ineffective and worthless people who collect a salary for accomplishing little more than making the lives of millions worse each day.

If you need a kidney you can have a kidney.... if you have the dollars. Money would flow in from all over the globe! We could get money back into the USA that went to China. People that live in countries where jobs were lost to outsourcing would be a new revenue stream as well.

OK. It seems as if I covered all the aspects of stupidity while being insensitive at the same time.

I was offensive as well yet address a number of problems while focusing on the wealthy to raise the money and dividing the wealthy from the remainder of the population.

To our government, all parties. You are an embarrassment for most Americans. You act like school children as you argue and posture while you come up with one stupid idea after another.

It matters little at this time whether our current President was handed a problem that took decades to develop. It matters little at this time that previous administrations raised the debt ceiling multiple times during their administration. It does matter to me that some people in our government are avoiding these facts to push their own agenda in spite of further damage to the economy.

To our government: The American People are disgusted with the lot of you.

By the way, if you do go along with my idea I propose that before the illegal aliens are taken we first move upon our nation's Capitol and start the collection right there.

Joe Lieberman Says U.S. Should Cut Social Security To Pay For Fighting ‘The Islamist Extremists’ http://t.co/ftV8omo - move Lieberman to the front of the list for deportation from America. I paid into Social Security based on promises our government made over my entire working career.

9/23/11 Update - seems as if they are at it again - Senate rejects House funding bill; shutdown looms http://t.co/1Xylav34

Recent Instagram Activity - Shots of my own and shared shots of some of my friends

My Yelp Reviews

To Our Active U.S. Military Troops

About Me

I started this blog on December 13, 2009 to raise awareness on the homeless situation which is growing due to the current economic situation in this country. Two priorities at this period in my life are helping the homeless on the streets of Los Angeles and helping musicians sound better one amp at a time.

Who am I?

It is said that a picture is speaks a thousand words. Here are over three thousand random photos in a slide show. This is what I do, who I know, where I go.

An emotionally draining slideshow which mixes art, whimsy, low production values, a general lack of composition, sexual tension, nausea and the feeling of foolishness you have if you can watch the entire show from beginning to end.

What could be better than an album of nothing but low resolution shots taken with my cellphone (and a few from friends cellphones as well) ... and then, take these low resolution photos and upload them in real time to facebook where the quality and size is reduced even more?

Why I do what I do

To the folks who ask why I do what I do.

For many decades I worked in the corporate sector for very large companies. I worked many hours each week.

On some occasions I actually felt as if I made a change in a life. I could help somebody in their career. I could teach somebody something technical. Those sorts of things.

40-60 hours a week or more was generally not all that rewarding other than the friends I made along the way and the occasional change as I was able to make a difference.

I worked hard to make changes in my own life as most of us do. I made money to buy a house, raise a family. Family and friends are one side of our lives. The outside world is another.

I now have two main "jobs" each day. One is to help guitarists sound better, one amp at a time. I help folks in the music business and pass on what I have learned over decades walking this planet. I also try to help other people who are building their own career. That is one of the joys of being my age. You can help those on their path of building their own lives.

My second "job" is helping the homeless on the streets on Los Angeles. Five or ten hours on the street each week helping people makes more of a direct impact on more people than a month of work in my old life. Whether I feed people a snack, listen to what they have to say, give them a card from http://www.urm.org/ or walk them down to Union Rescue Mission I feel I am making life a little better for somebody.

In order to do something good one generally has to do something as in perform some sort of action. Los Angeles has the highest homeless population in the nation. Perhaps I feel as if I needed to do something.

Pay Pal Donations and a bit more information

My paypal button. If you wish to make a direct donation to supply night time snacks to the homeless in the streets of Los Angeles please use the paypal button below.

The link below to paypal is to donate money for the healthy snacks I pass out to the folks that live on the street in the evenings. These are the folks that for their own reasons do not partake of the services offered by the missions.

My evening time spent on skid row is my own activity. The residents of the streets of skid row are my teachers. They each have things to say if you take the time to listen.

Helping me directly via paypal is not tax deductible. As many of you know more than 100% of these funds go to snacks for the folks on the street as I tend to take cash out of my own pocket.

If you would rather contribute to an organization where you can receive a tax deduction and use credit card, paypal, text message, personal check or most any other form of payment just hit the donate button at http://urm.org/ These folks know how to stetch a dollar and $10 will feed five people a healthy hot meal. The folks at URM help those in the system so to speak. I try to help those who reject organized assistance for their own personal reasons and do not wish to be in any system. In addition to my own activities I also contribute out of my own pocket to Union Rescue Mission.

Thank you

Union Rescue Mission - What they do.

I talk a lot about Union Rescue Mission on this blog. I also talk a lot about them on facebook. I talk about them on my GAB website.

Many of my friends have become friends with Union Rescue Mission and members of their staff. I am sure many of you feel the same way I do about what they do and are a little bit better for knowing them.

There is a place on the URM website where there are a few videos. If you take a few minutes to look at this page and the videos you may learn a bit more about the work these folks do. http://www.urm.org/services/what-we-do.html

Video Channel for Union Rescue Mission

I had a little video widget but blogger seems to have timing issues with youtube. Random videos were usually displayed from everywhere. The direct link below is much more reliable.

Take a few moments to make a big difference

To donate $10 to Union Rescue Mission, text the letters URM to 85944. You will receive a confirmation text message. Reply with the word YES to complete the transaction.

Serving thousands of meals per day is just one of many services provided by the folks at URM.

From the URM website: The Union Rescue Mission (URM) is one of the largest missions of its kind in America--bringing help and hope to homeless and desperately poor men, women, and children of downtown Los Angeles.

URM was founded in 1891 by Lyman Stewart, president and founder of Union Oil Company. George A. Hilton served as the first superintendent of the Mission, originally known as the Pacific Gospel Union. During those early days, URM took to the streets in gospel wagons to offer food, clothing, and salvation to the less fortunate.

Over the years URM has continued and expanded its efforts to feed both the body and the soul, helping individuals and families break the cycle of poverty and achieve self-sufficiency.

Saunders Stewart Models

Although I generally wear flannel and Levi 501s some seem to think I know a bit about fashion and take a decent photograph now and then. I am an owner/partner in a model agency ( www.saunders-stewart-models.com). We supply models to the music industry (music videos), spokesmodels, product models etc. If you would like to be considered for SSM representation (non-exclusive if you desire) please send an email to models@guitaramplifierblueprinting.com.

Continually changing shots of a few SSM models available for your projects

Subscribers

Blog Traffic - Total Post Reads

I track both subscriber count and reader/visitor count as they are two different sets of data. Subscribers are the long term audience who get updates each time something new is posted or an ongoing post is updated.

Subscriber statistics are in the section above this entry on the page.

This blog was created in December 2009. Statistics were enabled on July 1, 2010. From July 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013 there were more than 12 million reads of this blog.

The average readership is over 350,000 readers per month. There have been months with over two times that amount depending on the subjects posted. Posts are also seen on facebook, twitter, google buzz, blogger, digg it, atom and many other services that have opted to distribute my antics for reasons that are at times a mystery to me.

My Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting website continues to receive over 5,000 visitors per day but I now update this blog much more often than my GAB website. It is easier to update, I can do it from any computer or cell phone and has a content which is much more diverse than my music related website.

Thanks for following, thanks for reading and thank you for sending the link of this site to your friends.

Andy Bales and the staff of Union Rescue Mission, Jacqui Groseth, Alexander Cornejo II. Located in downtown Los Angeles, URM is the oldest and largest mission in the nation. The staff and entire organization at URM make me feel that my own small efforts to help the homeless have some degree of value. These folks serve over 3,000 meals a day (over a million meals a year) 365 days a year three meals a day. When I feel that the end goal seems to be like one pushing against the incoming tide and feel beaten down I think of Andy Bales and his staff and find a bit more drive to continue. Look at their website to see how many services these folks offer. www.urm.org